Report by Radiation Expert: Belarus To Repopulate Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

21st Century Science & Technology has just posted on its website an exclusive report by radiation expert Zbigniew Jaworowski, on the decision of Belarus to repopulate the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. Jaworowski concludes that Belarus "should be commended for its courage in standing up to the Chernobyl hysteria, for years cultivated by Greenpeace and other Greens." The "panic-stricken reaction to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor mishap was a fatal error on the part of Soviet authorities," he says. He reviews in detail the scientific data on the effects of radiation in the Chernobyl area, in contrast to the radiophobic hysteria.

Jaworowski cites the years of scientific studies which show that the Chernobyl catastrophe caused a minuscule risk for the general population. The only fatalities were of 31 rescue workers and employees of the power station at the time of the accident. Among those workers who survived, there is no increase of cancer mortality. Among the inhabitants of the contaminated areas, there is no increase of cancer incidence and hereditary diseases.

Jaworowski is a multidisciplinary scientist who has published more than 300 scientific papers, four books, and scores of popular science articles, including many in 21st Century and EIR. He has been a member of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) since 1973, and served as its chairman from 1980-1982.

Jaworowski's report will appear in EIR, and a longer article on Chernobyl will be published in the Summer 2010 issue of 21st Century.